Subdued Green
by phoenixreal
Summary: After the Battle for New York, Tony reacts in typical Tony fashion, he hides in his workshop, the bottle, and parties. His ways catch up to him, however, when Pepper calls in Steve and Bruce for help. Pepper disappears, and they find her at a warehouse, and find out Tony's there too. Hulk is not happy. Then, things change and what appeared simple becomes complex. Warning inside.
1. Searching

**Subdued Green**

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_A/N: I know, just what I need, but I watched Iron Man 3 and the freaking plot bunnies won't leave me alone. If there is interest in this I'll continue, and may expand the first chapter as I usually do._

_On another note, my website is up and running, please see my profile. Right now, the guestbook and forums aren't done yet, but if you want, shoot me a message on here if you have thoughts or ideas on it. Keep in mind, it is still under construction._

_As far as this lovely thing, mind the warnings, only put on the first chappie._

B_eware this is a violent story. Please mind the tags._

_WARNINGS: Pay attention to tags below. Warnings not repeated on subsequent chapters. May be continued if there is interest._

_This is cannon divergent fanfiction. Characters exist in their own world, but I have altered events from a certain point. In some cases, the characters and their personalities have been altered to fit the situations and have evolved in some ways.._

_Warnings_

_This is a hardcore slash fanfiction. This is rated MA. This contains explicit sexual content. This story includes gang rape and suicide ideation/attempt. This story also contains graphic violence, blood, and gore. This story is not intended to be read by individuals under the age of 18._

_Disclaimer_

_I do not claim ownership of any part of the Avengers universe or of the Avengers characters. Marvel Entertainment, LLC owns this amazing world; I am simply playing within it. Original elements do belong to me. There is no copyright infringement intended and I in no way make money from writing or posting this work of fanfiction._

_Tags:_

_Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Gang Rape, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Consensual Oral Sex, Protective Hulk, Adorable Hulk, Hulk Loves Tony, Oblivious Tony, Closeted Tony, Sexuality Crisis, Sexual Identity, Poor Tony Stark, Hurt Tony, Depression, Suicide Attempt, Insomnia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – PTSD, Anxiety Attacks, Drunk Tony, Promiscuous Tony, Male Friendship, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Protective Steve Rogers, Science Boyfriends, Top Bruce Banner, Bottom Tony Stark, Protective Bruce, Science Husbands, Lemon, Consensual Sex, Rimming, Frottage, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering_

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**Chapter One**

_Searching_

* * *

Pepper sighed, wondering how long Tony was going to be out tonight. It had been a few weeks since the New York battle, and ever since, Tony hadn't been quite the same. Something was obviously wrong with him, and both Pepper and Rhodey noticed it. Neither one, however, could crack the exterior of Tony's shell. He was either locked in the shop, or out at some bar, club or party. She was beginning to really worry about him, to be honest. There were a few small requests from SHIELD, but nothing major. She knew that there was something going on with him beyond a relapse into alcohol.

She picked up her phone and dialed a number. She hoped that he'd kept the phone she'd given him. She knew it was a shot in the dark, after all, he didn't stay with people for very long.

"Yes?" came the husky reply.

"Bruce, it's Pepper," she said with a smile on her face. He answered, at least.

"Hey, what's going on? Surely there's not another alien threat they want me to come out and play with you guys for again," he said, somewhat sardonically.

Pepper smiled. "No, actually I was trying to see if you and Steve could help me. Tony…well, he's gone a little crazy since New York, I guess…"

"When is Tony Stark not a little crazy?" Bruce teased.

"It's more than that, Bruce. He's never here, and when he is, he's in the shop, and he doesn't sleep and I think his diet consists mostly of booze these days. I'm worried that he's running from something. He changed after New York. You all left, and Tony was left alone again, and I think it really got to him," she said, pacing around her office.

There was a long pause and Pepper let it be. Bruce often processed things quietly. "So, you want me to come to New York and talk to him?" he asked finally.

"I honestly don't know what I'm asking Bruce, except I know I'm asking for help. He's going to self-destruct if this keeps up. Every morning there's another news report about Tony's 'drunken antics' the night before and he could not care less about it. He says the press loves to tear the hero down, so it might as well be him," she said with a sigh.

Bruce sighed. "I take it you can send a plane to meet me at the nearest airport, right?" he said with a smile to his voice.

"I can, and can have it equipped with the necessary tranquilizers to keep you asleep for the trip," she said, knowing too well his fear of being stuck in a pressurized can hurtling through the air at fifty thousand feet.

"Okay, Bogata, tomorrow afternoon. It will take me that long to hike back."

With that the phone clicked off and then Pepper had an idea. "JARVIS, how much work would it be to prepare a room for Steve and Bruce?" she asked.

"Minimal time, Ms. Potts. I've already begun the process. They're both on the same floor as sir's bedroom," JARVIS said.

Pepper smiled. Leave it to JARVIS to anticipate. She picked up the phone and dialed Steve's number. "Steve Rogers," came the answer. She smiled.

"Steve, Pepper," she said.

"Hey Pepper, how are you?" he asked, and she knew he was smiling. "Been a while since the Battle and all that," he said, and she heard the bed squeak as he sat down.

"I'm doing as well as I can, but I called about Tony," she said softly.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She smiled at the innocence. Steve didn't really watch TV or use the internet, so he wouldn't know about Tony's recent debauchery. "Yeah, Tony's been acting out a little and I thought maybe you and Bruce might come spend some time with him, and see if you can't…you know, get him to talk or something. Tony's never been through anything like that, and nearly dying…I think it might have gotten to him more than everyone else knows."

"What's he doing?" he asked, and she could hear the genuine concern in Steve's voice.

"He's out at clubs and bars all night, drunk half the time and who knows what else, and if he's not drunk, he's with some floozy, and before it was bad, but this is…it is just more than he's ever done before. He doesn't sleep, and when he's here, he's in the shop," she said, rubbing her head as she turned off the muted TV. Tony apparently had made an appearance at the opera drunk off his ass. Wouldn't have been so bad, but he had hit on some female dignitary from somewhere in Europe and she was completely abashed by it.

"I can come to New York," he said slowly. "But can you…"

"I'll have a car come pick you up and take you to the airport. Bruce is flying from Bogata tomorrow, so I'll have the plane divert and pick you up. I'll call with the exact time tomorrow depending on what time they leave."

"Okay, Pepper, that's fine," he said. "Thanks for calling."

"No, thank you, Steve," she said, pushing the end call button and standing still and looking out onto the still rebuilding city.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The music was nearly eardrum bursting when she knocked on the glass door. Of course there was no answer. She sighed and typed in the code to let her in. She went in and then typed in the code to lower the music.

"JARVIS, I've told you not to turn down my tunes!" Tony groused from where he sat with a welder and welding mask over his face. He spun in the chair and pushed it up and blinked at Pepper.

"Tony," she said. "You look like shit," she said. His eyes were red and his face was pale. There were dark circles under his eyes and he obviously hadn't slept much, if any.

"Thanks," he said, standing up and pulling off the welding mask and setting it aside. "What is it?"

"You have visitors," she said.

Tony arched a brow. "Visitors?"

"Come on, Tony," she said, pulling him to stand and he followed her out into the main area of the floor where the bar was.

They'd finally finished fixing the floor a few days ago, removing the Loki-print, as Tony called it. Pepper had teased he should leave it or make it a different color, but honestly, Tony wanted to forget everything about that whole incident. The bad part was that Loki tossing him out of his window was the least of the things that he had nightmares about when he slept. He came up the steps and froze to see two people he most definitely didn't expect to see anytime soon.

"Steve, Bruce," he said, looking between them. "What are you guys doing here?"

Bruce looked at Steve and back to Tony. "Oh, I was wrapping up some studies in Bogata, and was heading up to Iceland for a while, so I thought I'd drop in. I got ahold of Steve to see if we could meet up and he was free, so I asked Pepper if we could use your jet to make it faster," he said with a soft smile.

Tony turned and looked at Pepper. "You called them."

Pepper put a hand to her chest. "I didn't, Tony."

Tony nodded. "He's a terrible liar, and Captain Perfect looks like he's about to die because he's a part of the lie."

Pepper started to protest then shook her head. "Tony, I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine!" he said, sighing as he headed into the kitchen for coffee.

"Tony, you hardly eat, you never sleep, you're out all night doing who knows what…I can't get up without seeing something you've done on the news!" she said, exasperated with the infernal man.

"So you're embarrassed of me?" Tony said, turning around and glaring at her.

"No Tony, you're going to get hurt!" she said as the other two walked in behind her.

Tony snorted. "I don't need your intervention, okay?" he said, shoving past the three of them and stopping to pour a healthy dose of Bailey's into his coffee before he went back to the elevator.

Pepper put a hand to her head and looked at the other two. "I've got rooms for you both, ask JARVIS, I just…I can't right now."

Steven and Bruce watched her go and then looked at each other. "What do we do?" Steve asked.

Bruce shook his head. "I have no idea, Steve, no idea."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Tony came up later that night in a suit and freshly showered. "Hey," he said to the two others who sat in his living room. Both looked at him with wide eyes.

"You're going out?" Bruce asked, turning to look at him over the back of the couch.

"Club opening! Danse Macabre! Goth club, what do you think?" he asked, spinning a bit. "A bit bright, I know, but I just can't go the whole emo route. Anyway, I cut the ribbon, they give me free booze all night!" he said, jogging down the steps and into the elevator. "Bye bye, babies!" he said as it closed.

Bruce growled. "I don't like the suggest this, but we need to go there and see exactly what he's up to," he said, standing up.

"Mr. Banner, there is a set appropriate to the setting in your closet, and one for Mr. Rogers as well," JARVIS intoned coolly.

Bruce frowned and then smiled. "I swear, this AI is more human than Tony is…" he muttered, going and changing his clothes as Steve did the same.

A few minutes later they both headed down and took a car to this new club. At first they thought they wouldn't get in until Bruce smiled at the bouncer. "We're with Stark's party."

The security guy arched a brow and radioed in. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers," Bruce said smoothly. The man blinked and nodded. "You're in," he said, letting them through.

Once inside, they could barely see. The music was obnoxiously loud and there were people packing the place. Bruce saw Tony though, leaning with his back against the bar and a circle of women giggling and preening around him like a bunch of hens. They made their way over to find that he was more than a little tipsy.

"Bruce! Steve!" he yelled, pushing through the gaggle of girls toward them and hugging them sloppily. "I didn't think you'd come out!"

Bruce sighed. "Against my better judgment, but I thought a little fun might be in order since the last time we were in New York it was business."

Tony grinned. "Come on, got some new friends here," he said, pulling both men to the bar. "Girls, this is Bruce, and this is Steve, awesome people!"

"Tony, weren't you going to buy me a drink?" a little blonde said from in front of him.

"Oh yeah, honey," he said, turning and ordering one for her and another for himself.

Bruce glanced at Steve. "Tony, you've had enough I think," he said with a frown.

Tony set the glass down and turned to him. "I can still think, therefore I have _not_ had enough, I have you know!" he said, turning back around and downing the scotch on the rocks quickly. "But I have had enough that I gotta piss."

With that, he stumbled a bit, but mostly walked straight to the bathroom on the far side of the club. Steven and Bruce shooed away the women and waited. However, when Tony didn't return after half an hour, they started to worry. Both of them go up and headed to the bathroom to find it empty, and apparently, Tony Stark nowhere to found in the club. They grumbled, leaving and heading back to the Tower, having obviously missed him as he left. Once there, JARVIS said his car was still at the club and he had not returned home.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Wakey, wakey, Tony Stark," came a voice from outside the haze of Tony's mind. He felt weird, and not good weird, really bad weird. And who was talking to him? He felt a harsh slap to his face and he blinked. He was hanging above a concrete floor. He blinked again, the world rushing back with a vengeance.

"Fuck, that was one hell of a scotch on the rocks," he muttered.

"Yeah, well, with a little extra in it," the voice said.

He lifted his head to see he was staring at a man a few feet off in a black t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. He looked down, and moved his arms, realizing they were tied onto his back, and he was being held up by some sort of rope rigging. He felt his ankles were bound together and his thighs cinched. He felt the biting pressure of the ropes digging in across his stomach, chest, and crotch to hold him up. His ankles felt higher, and his knees were bent.

"What's up with the bondage rig?" Tony muttered.

"Oh, just thought it would be fun, you know, for us," the one in the black shirt said. Tony couldn't see his face; the lights were blinding him just right that he couldn't identify a face.

"For you?" he muttered, looking around and realizing that black t-shirt wasn't alone. A man with dark slacks and a white button up stood to his right, and another man with a pair of khaki's and a blue polo stood to the left. "What is this, a party? You know, my friends, they'll be looking for me…"

"No one's looking for you, Tony," came another voice, vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it. He couldn't see a face but he was wearing a black suit and silver dress shirt and a pair of very expensive shoes.

He craned his neck only to have his hair grabbed and yanked hard. "Fuck, man, what the hell?" he said.

"Tony, Tony, you've been a bad boy, you know? Sleeping with half of New York's female population, including my ex. One night with you, and she was done with me, saying that you told her how much better she was without a prick like me. Everyone here is someone you've stolen their woman, Tony," he said, pulling hard on his black curls.

"Fuck, I don't take anyone's woman! Shit, I sleep with them and they're gone most the time before I get up or I have my CEO show them out if they're still there in the morning! They know it's a one night stand!" he said, wincing at the pain in his scalp. "Dammit, they come to me! If you knew how to treat your woman then they wouldn't be out trying to get laid, fucker!" he growled.

There was a pause before he was punched soundly. He rolled his jaw and spat blood. "Just as we thought; a pain in the ass up until the end."

Tony sighed. "Look, if you're gonna kill me, get it over with and quit boring me with the self-assured monologue," he said just as another punch landed across his jaw. Annoyed he spat blood again, trying to get the bastard's shoes.

Black t-shirt came closer and pulled his head up again by his hair. "Tony, Tony, you treat every woman like your whore. About time you got treated like the fucking whore you are," he said, and Tony realized he was undoing his jeans.

"Whoa, fuck that, you stick your goddamned dick in my fucking mouth I'll goddamned bite the fucking thing off, you just fucking kill me now," he said, eyes going wide as the man proceeded to pull himself free from his jeans.

Suit came back around and slapped him. "Nope, you won't, want to know why, little Tony?" he asked.

He heard a muffled shriek and turned his head to see blue polo, though he could see he had dark hair now, was holding a bound and gagged Pepper. He frowned and locked eyes on her. She had been crying. Why did they have to make her cry?

"Let her go!" Tony said with a growl.

"You get to choose, Tony, you or her?" asked Suit.

Tony's head snapped up. "What?"

"See, here's the deal, you can be your selfish, self-interested self, and watch as me and these three gentleman brutally fuck your pretty little CEO girlfriend, we've seen the news, over there while you watch, and who knows, maybe you'll enjoy it, or you can just be a good little boy, open your mouth and accept what you've earned," he said, walking around him and slapping his thigh hard.

Tony stared at Pepper, who had eyes the size of saucers. What kind of thing was this? What were they playing at? "You are kidding me," Tony said. "You are fucking serious?"

Blue polo reached his hand down and started to inch Pepper's skirt up on her leg. She yelled against the fabric in her mouth, and Tony was sure that her fear was palatable. Just what had they done and said to her so far? He was going to kill them, every one of them for this.

"Stop!" he screamed. "Don't hurt her, let her go, do anything to me, just let her go," he said, staring at her. She shook her head and screamed again. Of course, she'd protest. That was Pepper for you, he thought to himself. "Don't…don't make her watch," he said, quieter now, having already given up fighting it. If Pepper was in danger, he had no choice. "Let her go, please."

"That's a good boy, but we don't let her go until we're done with you, Mr. Stark," Suit said as Blue Polo drug her away into the darkness. Tony's head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. He could hear Pepper screaming against the gag and struggling with the man that held her. He felt the man's hands on legs, though and he flinched and turned to stare over his shoulder.

"What, Tony? Whores get every hole used, you know that," he said, taking a knife from his pocket and slicing his slacks and boxers open down the back in one deft stroke. Tony flinched at the cold air contacting his overheated skin.

Then, he felt the pressure decrease on his ankles as he cut the rope holding his feet up and they dangled just above the concrete floor, still bound together. He wanted to melt into the floor, though, when he felt Suit's hands on his back. The gesture was soft, and almost tender, in opposition to the violence with which he'd began.

"Tony, Tony, did you ever expect to be used like the whores you use?" he asked, rubbing further and further down his back.

Tony refused to say anything and instead stared at the concrete floor. Without his suit he couldn't get free. And he didn't even have the bracelets to call the suit he'd been working on lately. He'd left them at the tower. Now more than ever he was regretting his decision to distance himself from others in his life. They were right, if Pepper was here, no one would be looking for him. Steve and Bruce would have gone home when he didn't return, because he's Tony Stark. They'd assume he found a woman on the way.

"No smart remarks?" he asked. "That's okay, you can't talk with a cock in your throat, anyway," he said.

A hand grabbed his hair and yanked his head up, and Tony winced as the black t-shirt went to work on his mouth and throat, using his hair to hold onto him with. He nearly clenched his jaw without intending to, though when he felt who he assumed was Suit behind him, forcing wet and probing fingers inside him.

"I'll be kind, Tony. I doubt very much your status as a virgin, but just to be sure," he said, jamming hard into him and eliciting a low whine. "Who knows, maybe you are? That's quite the distinction, taking the virginity of Tony Stark…"

Tony nearly vomited as black t-shirt rammed his throat mercilessly. No wonder the bastard's woman wanted someone else to sleep with her if she had to put up with this all the time, he thought, trying to distract himself from what was happing. Then, Suit's fingers slipped away and something else pressed against him. He had to admit, he'd never done this. He'd had some kinky girls before that did prostate massages, vibrating wands, and all sorts of stuff like that, but he'd never actually had someone do something like this. He knew now that perhaps, considering how pleasant the other things were, this might be enjoyable, if he weren't being forced. As it was, he had a hard time not biting down with all his force when he plunged forward into him. Tears forced themselves from his eyes and he couldn't stop them. This was a whole new type of pain.

Things fell into a haze then. He wasn't sure what was happening, or when they changed positions, he just knew it felt like it was an eternity and he was dying as he listened to the dripping of things he rather not think about to the floor under him. His head was pounding and finally his head was dropped and blood was dripping from his mouth to the floor, he could see it pooling in perfect little red circles. He wasn't sure where it came from; he didn't think he could feel anything anymore. His body was numb. Then there was a laugh and he was falling the short distance to the floor, landing with a low whine as the reactor jostled inside his chest. There was a round of laughter because they were incredibly amused with themselves.

"Poor Tony," came one of them and Tony looked up into a face he didn't know, but it was black t-shirt. "Let's cut these ropes off," he said, slicing through the ropes and layers of skin with them before he pushed his legs forward and slammed into him again.

Tony couldn't even bother with a response, his head was spinning. He couldn't fight them, his arms were still tied flat onto his back, and his legs were numb, well, all of him was numb. The world was hazy and black and red and he only knew that he hoped beyond all else that they left Pepper alone. Whatever happened to him, if he could save her pain, that was enough for him.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Bruce and Steve had no idea where to even look, especially when JARVIS said that he couldn't locate Pepper. They were currently tracking Pepper's cell phone in the hopes that wherever she was, it was with her. Considering that it was leading them back in the direction of the club that they had just left, they knew it was somewhere near where she'd been taken. Finally, they stopped outside a warehouse a few blocks down from the club. The signal of her phone was inside.

Bruce looked at Steve. "You go around back, there's a light there, and I see light up here. That way if the people are split we take less chance of getting her or Tony hurt if they have them."

There was, of course, no guarantee that Tony was involved in the situation. They both supposed Pepper could be in trouble alone, but somehow they doubted it very seriously. Steve watched as Bruce moved quietly around front. He ran around back and found a door that was locked. He broke the lock quietly as he could and pushed it open. Inside there was a room where the light was coming from the inside. He could hear voices in another part, no doubt in the direction that Bruce was moving.

Steve inched in quietly along the wall and came to the door with the light inside and grabbed the knob, finding it unlocked. He paused, taking a breath and opened it and entered in one quick move and stopped. Pepper looked up with frightened eyes at first, then her look softened to relief. Steve shut the door and went over to where she was tied to a pipe. He quickly ripped the ropes around her wrists apart and she grabbed the gag.

"Tony, they've got Tony," she whispered desperately. "They…oh my God, Steve, help him!"

"Bruce went around the front and…" Just then they heard the loud roar of Bruce hulking out. Steve's eyes went wide. "Should I worry about what made Bruce hulk that quickly?"

Pepper's face had gone pale. "Yeah, I…oh…" she said. "We've got to get to Tony."

Steve shook his head. "It will be safer if I take you to the car first, because I don't trust Bruce to know friend from foe right now."

"Steve, leave me here…I…" she protested, but Steve had scooped her up and took off out the door before she could protest any further.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Bruce was quiet, and he heard voices inside the warehouse. Someone laughing, but he couldn't understand the words. He pushed his glasses up on his nose thoughtfully as he slipped through the doorway, seemingly unnoticed. Inside the warehouse, there was a set of ropes dangling from the ceiling that went behind a conveyer belt. Also behind the belt, he saw several figures, and it was from there that he heard the noise. Slowly, he made his way thorught he dimly lit room. The only light was coming from a lamps near where the figures were.

"Oh, he's all worn out," muttered one of them.

"I bet he can take two now," another answered. There was movement, and Bruce froze as one of them turned his direction.

"What?" the first that spoke said, looking at the one that was glancing Bruce's direction; he was wearing a white button up shirt.

"I thought I heard something. He said his friends would be looking for him," he said, squinting into the darkness.

Another one stood up and Bruce could see he was wearing a blue shirt from where he hid. "Nothing there, man, he said they weren't gonna be looking for this bastard. He's a fucking playboy, shit, he disappears for days on end," he said, disappearing behind the conveyer again.

The one staring in Bruce's direction kept looking that way. "I swear I heard something."

"Shut the fuck up, here, move, there," the other said and Bruce heard what he knew to be Tony's voice.

"No, stop, that…you can't…" he muttered and trailed off with a low whine.

Bruce felt his skin starting to ripple. He swallowed. He wasn't sure if he could hold the Other Guy back if they were hurting Tony.

"Shit…that's good," came the third voice, the one Bruce hadn't seen. "Fuck…quit squirming, or I'll have our friend there shove his fucking cock in your whore cunt with us, then you'll really have something to complain about…I don't think taking three will end well for you, Tony boy."

Bruce tried to hold on but it wasn't any use. There was a moment, like always, when the Other Guy and Bruce almost passed each other. Usually Bruce was trying to push him back, begging for him to stop, to keep him away. This time, though, there was only fury and anger between them and they understood each other. Bruce usually pleaded for lives to be spared. This time, he didn't.

The world exploded in green and there was a sound of gunfire. The hulk didn't care, though, the bullets glancing off his skin. He had one mission, and that was to make them pay for hurting Tony, his Tony, and in the simplistic mindset, that was all he cared about. Before the three men could move more than a few feet, Hulk had grabbed the one in a white shirt and flung him and his handgun across the warehouse into the wall with a sound cracking sound. The other two, a wide eyed man in a black shirt and another in a blue, were scrambling to find their own weapons but Hulk grabbed them both and roared as he slammed their bodies into each other, heads cracking sickly in the otherwise now silent room. He tossed them both to either side and jumped down from the conveyer where Tony was laying on the floor.

Tony was somewhat conscious, of course, Hulk's bellowing, as always, got his attention. He found the world spinning and he felt Hulk's massive arms holding him. Tony blinked and stared up into Hulk's concerned looking face.

"Oh," he croaked. "Big guy, good to see you," he said hoarsely. He was starting to feel pain in his throat. Definitely where the blood leaking from his mouth was coming from. That was probably not a good thing, he thought to himself.

"Tony hurt," Hulk said, eyes looking over him.

"Yeah, 'bout that, might need a doctor, so if you could let Bruce come out, that'd be a good thing," Tony said, more blood starting to run from his mouth the more he talked. "But, you know, tower might…be good…Big guy, but…gonna pass out…" he said, eyes rolling up into the whites as he went limp in Hulk's arms.

"Hulk?" came Steve's voice tentatively from behind him.

Hulk turned around and glared at Steve as though assessing if he was a threat. Steve looked around and held up his hands. "Just me, Hulk, just me," he said, glancing at the two men bleeding on the floor.

"Hulk, he's hurt, we gotta get him back to the tower, and Bruce needs to see to him, do you understand?" he said, not moving closer.

Hulk looked down at Tony and back to Steve and he nodded. "Hulk go home. Bruce fix Tony."

With that, he leaped through the roof of the place and was gone, leaving Steven wondering just what he was supposed to do. He looked up to see Pepper had followed him. He sighed. Did anyone listen? She was already on the phone though, with the police it seemed. Steve decided it best to wait there. He checked over the three men Hulk had incapacitated and was impressed that none of them were dead or critically injured.

Before long, the three men were taken off in ambulances under police guard, and Pepper and Steve were each giving their statements. The officer was having Pepper speak first.

"Okay, so Ms. Potts, tell us what happened?" he asked, clicking on a voice recorder and pulling out a pad and pencil.

"I was at the office when this guy came in; he was wearing a mask and a black suit. He had a silver shirt and black gloves, so I don't know his race or anything. He had a gun and said it would be in my interest to come with him. He knew about the panic buttons in the office and stopped me from hitting them. I managed to slip my cell into my bra, though, and he didn't see that. He tied my hands behind my back and covered my head with a hood. We got here, and he gagged me and left me in the backroom. He said the 'party' wouldn't start until the guest of honor arrived." Pepper paused, collecting herself.

"After a while, this other guy, the one in the blue shirt, came and got me and said he was going to show me off. He drug me in here and they had Tony, and he was hanging in those ropes, and the…the guy asked Tony to choose. Him or me. And told him, if he wanted to be selfish, he could w-watch as they took turns with me, or he could do as he was told and they'd leave me…alone…" she said, looking pale again. "He…he said to let me go, that he'd do whatever they said, as long as they let me go…and they took me to the room again…and I heard them, and Tony was…was…trying so hard to not yell, or cry out, I could tell he didn't want m-me to hear, but it…it didn't stop them from taunting him, and saying terrible things about what…what they were doing…" She turned and buried her face in Steve's chest. Steve rubbed her back and sighed.

"Thanks Ms. Potts, and Mr. Rogers?" he said, turning to him.

Steve detailed his rescue of Pepper and coming around to the front to find Bruce had transformed into the Hulk and knocked out the three men. He said that the suited man Pepper spoke of was nowhere to be found. They asked if Steve knew where the Hulk had taken Tony.

"My guess is that Hulk took him back to the tower so Bruce could take care of him," Steve said.

"Can you trust that beast?" one of the other police said, frowning.

Pepper turned around, her eyes hard. "Hulk is not a beast!" she said. "And he wouldn't do anything to hurt Tony. Tony is the one person that has never called him a beast or treated him badly. If the Hulk is capable of caring for someone, that someone is Tony," she said, her eyes dry now and hardening.

The officer's eyes went wide and he nodded slowly. Pepper was not one to be trifled with when it came to Tony, they knew from what they'd heard. "Now, Tony is no doubt in the medical bay right now with Bruce and if you…"

Pepper's phone rang and she answered it with the speakerphone. "Hello?" she asked.

"Ms. Potts, Mr. Banner has requested I update you on Sir's condition. He has triaged the worst of his injuries and determined none to be life threatening, but he has lost considerable blood. It triggered two episodes of cardiac failure; however Mr. Banner has stabilized Sir and arc reactor function is now nominal. Mr. Banner has requested that you and Mr. Rogers return to the tower immediately, and has requested you bring any police with you to collect necessary evidence so he can finish cleaning Sir's wounds as soon as possible," came JARVIS across the speaker.

"Thank you, JARVIS, we'll be there shortly. Please inform Bruce," she said kindly.

"Yes, Ms. Potts, of course."

"Who was that?" asked the officer taking notes.

"JARVIS," she answered. "Tony's artificial intelligence that runs everything from his Iron Man suits to the daily functions of the tower. Now, let's hurry so you can get the evidence collection done before Tony wakes up again."


	2. Breaking

**Subdued Green**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

_Breaking_

* * *

Bruce was having an incredibly difficult time while he was working. He tried to distance himself, he tried to pretend that this person on his table was someone who needed him, but when he saw the blue of the arc he just nearly lost it. The only thing keeping the hulk at bay, surprisingly, was the hulk. Bruce had never in his entire time living with the hulk inside his mind seen something like this happen. Usually, the surge of anger brought him out. Now, however, every surge of anger was pushed back, as though the hulk knew that Bruce had to retain control in order to help Tony. If Bruce wasn't in such a state of worry, he might have wondered at how very intelligent it seemed for the hulk to do this.

"Dr. Banner, Ms. Potts, the police, and the rest of the team has arrived. Shall I instruct them to wait outside?" JARVIS asked.

"Yes, yes, I'll go out, he's stable, but I need to have the kits done so I can finish," he said, wincing as his skin rippled then settled back to normal. He opened the door and nodded to those there.

"Do you have the kit or did you send someone to collect the evidence along with it?" he asked quietly.

The officer shook his head and glanced at the others. "I don't know…"

Bruce's eyes glowed green and Pepper took a step back. He swallowed, and closed them. "You did have someone notified that it was a sexual assault, correct?"

"We weren't sure…" the officer stammered and Bruce stepped forward, a foot landing much heavier than it should.

Bruce hadn't taken the time to change completely. He'd grabbed a pair of scrub pants and a lab coat, otherwise he was shirtless and shoeless so the definite green tinge that overcame his features was hard to miss. Steve stepped back a pace, as did the rest of the team.

"Bruce," Pepper said. "Should I send for someone else so you can go to the hulk room?"

"I'm fine," he said, the green fading. "I'm fine, just someone get me a rape kit. I want to get this over with, you should have one in an ambulance, yes?" he said tightly.

The officer said. "I'll look, I called the EMTs, they followed us," he said, running back to the elevator.

Pepper looked at Bruce with a worried expression. "Bruce, you have the hulk in check? Are you sure?"

Bruce nodded. "Believe it or not, hulk is the one controlling himself," he said with a soft smile. He nodded to everyone's confused looks. "He wants me to 'help Tony'. Believe it or not he told me that, and I understood it. I don't know how it happened but it did."

A minute later a pair of paramedics came running toward him and he led them back into the medbay. It looked rather amusing to see him in such a state, loose scrub pants and his hair a complete mess, his rather unimpressive chest blatant white against the similarly colored lab coat. The officer who had been up before came back and turned to Pepper.

"Th-that's the same guy, the big green thing?" he said quietly.

Pepper arched a sculpted brow at him. "Yes, but I'd rather you not refer to him as a 'thing', he's barely holding onto his control as it is. But yes, Dr. Banner is the hulk. You obviously haven't read the press releases we put out about him and the others on the Avengers," she commented.

He just nodded. "I'm…not a big news reader."

She smiled. "Dr. Banner doesn't do interviews, so I handle his press matters. Now, if you'll sit down here, when Bruce is satisfied he'll come out and answer your questions," she said with a smile.

It was another hour and two pale faced paramedics left and Bruce emerged and handed a sealed kit to the officer. His skin seemed to have taken on a constant greenish hue and his eyes nearly glowed green. He handed over a medical file next.

"The kit, I completed it, the paramedics signed as witnesses, and also verified my report. I've got to finish cleaning up after the evidence collection," he said with a shiver as green rippled over his face. "Pepper, can you please contact medical. I need an ENT for a consult," he said, disappearing again.

Pepper felt her stomach drop. For Bruce to need n ENT to consult, they'd done some severe damage to him. She didn't want to think about what he'd said to her when he tied her up in the room. She turned on her heel and headed into the office to make the call. A few minutes later, she was sitting with her hands in her head when she heard a familiar voice.

"Pepper?" Natasha said from the doorway.

Pepper looked up with teary eyes. "Natasha," she said softly, as she looked up at the other red haired woman.

She sat down beside Pepper and put an arm round her back. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all Natasha. This is my fault. He grabbed me and used me to make Tony…make him…oh god, Natasha. I could hear it, everything. Everything they said to him. Everything they taunted him with what they were doing to him. The things they said…It was horrible… If I hadn't been so weak and let that guy…"

Natasha shook her head softly. "No, don't do this, Pepper. Blaming yourself for it won't do any more good than blaming Tony. It isn't his fault and it isn't your fault. Those men are to blame. We came back as soon as Fury got the message from Cap. Clint's with Cap in the hall waiting for word from Bruce and the doctor that came down to talk to him. He wouldn't tell us anything, just that he didn't know anything for sure yet."

Pepper nodded sadly. "I can't…I mean, I just got Steve and Bruce here to try and help him work through whatever is going on with him. I thought…I thought…"

Natasha put her arm around her and held her close to her for a moment.

"Pepper, I've seen first hand the cruelty of men. And there are so many ways that they take advantages of others, male and female. They took advantage to you, and they took advantage of Tony. Have they said anything yet? I heard the police took them in but Fury was having them transferred to a SHIELD facility on the grounds that Tony's a SHIELD agent," she said softly.

Pepper shook her head. "I don't know. I can't…I can't even face Tony."

There was a knock at the door and the door cracked to reveal Steve's face. "Pepper, Bruce said he can talk to us about it now."

Natasha held her hand as they left together, following Steve into a small room where Bruce and Fury were already waiting for them. They sat down at the small terrible and looked to Bruce.

"He'll be physically fine; he's had a lot of damage to his throat, however. Whatever they did, it appears they used an object of some sort on him at some point that nearly punctured his larynx. We didn't find anything that could have done that kind of damage in the warehouse, but we also didn't find one of the attackers. It is possible that an item was used that he took with him. The damage was significant, and not confined to his throat," Bruce said, not wanting to continue that. "I've repaired the damage and had the ENT help me with the surgery to repair his throat and larynx; however…he won't be able to talk for weeks, if not months, until it is completely healed. He'll also be confined to the med bay for at least four weeks until his other injuries heal, and he'll be on a nasal feeding tube for that time. I have to keep a close eye on his system. Between all the injuries, I cannot switch him to normal diet for a while."

Pepper nodded. "He's going to be devastated, not talking and able to leave the med bay…" she said softly.

Bruce sighed. "I…wouldn't be so sure, Pepper, he's been through a lot. And…I'm not even entirely sure that he'll ever be able to speak again. And even then…" he left the words hanging as his skin rippled greenish for a moment.

Fury's phone buzzed and he picked it up. "All right, got it. I'll be there in a few." He turned off the phone and looked up. "The three men have been transferred to a cell on the Helicarrier. I'm going to do the interrogation."

Natasha stood up. "Permission to accompany," she said.

Fury smiled and nodded. "Of course."

Together they left and headed out to the waiting helicopter on the top of the tower, leaving Pepper, Steve, and Bruce there. Clint had also remained. He honestly did not to watch what happened when Natasha walked into the room with the rapists. He knew that she carried more than a small amount of hatred toward men that did this sort of thing. The fact that it had happened to someone she held close was significant. He wondered if the three men in the cell would survive the night with their genitalia in working order. Something told him they would not.

Steve and Bruce both looked pale, and Pepper's gaze was hollow. How could he help? He knew that the leader, the one that had hurt Tony the most was not captured. He thought that the best he could do was find that bastard and bring him in.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of," he said quietly and exited the tower and took to the roofs. Someone was behind this attack, and he was going to find out whom.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Fury and Natasha entered the interrogation room and sat across from the three men, all of which had been zip-tied to the rings that lined the table top. Fury opened a file.

"Jason Terrance," he said, looking up at the man in the blue polo shirt. "Carlos Menendez," he said, glancing at the man in the black t-shirt. "And Dallas Cooper," he said, eyes falling on the last one, the one in the white button up. "Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury."

"Yeah, we know who you are and you're out of your mind if you think you can keep us here," he said. "We have rights."

Fury arched a brow over his eye-patch. "You think you have rights? No, you don't have rights. No one even knows where you are, and if something happens to you, no one will be the wiser. You'll just disappear."

Carlos turned to the other two. "Man, I didn't sign up for this shit," he said.

"Keep your mouth shut," Dallas said with a growl. "You talk, I'll fucking kill you."

"Before or after they kill us, Dallas?" Jason said with a sigh. "We're fucked. The bastard set us up good, that's all there is to it."

"Who would that be?" Fury said, leaning forward. "I mean, we can do this the easy way, or I can leave the room and you can get to know Black Widow a bit better. I'm sure she would enjoy some special time with you."

"What's that bitch gonna do?" Dallas said. Before Fury even could move, she'd cut his hands free of the table and had him trapped under her with a razor toed boot at his throat and another hovering just above his crotch.

"I hate rapists. If I had my way I'd castrate you all here and now and leave you without medical attention and see who survived until the morning," she said, glaring down at him. His eyes had gone wide and he had nothing more to say. "I suggest you explain yourself. Quickly."

Fury nodded. "Man, she doesn't like men period, but men that stick their cocks where they don't belong, that's something she can't stand."

"Look it wasn't our idea. He came to us, the guy in the mask. He said Stark had been fucking around with his wife, and we've all had Stark take our wives to bed. So he knew we had a beef with him," Carlos said.

"So, Stark was sleeping with married women?" Fury asked.

"No we weren't married, we'd broken up already when she ran into Stark," Carlos said. "But how the fuck am I going to get the bitch back after she's been wooed by Tony fuckin' Stark?"

"Really? You got dumped, your ex went on a date with Stark, and you blamed him?" Fury said, frowning at the two across the table. Both nodded and looked away. "That's what this is about. You three idiots got dumped and your women happened to meet up with Stark afterward, and you somehow blame him for the whole thing."

Jason shook his head. "Well, when you put it that way…" he said, chewing his lip.

"When I put it that way? What other way is there to put it?" Fury asked.

Carlos shifted uncomfortably. "When he talked about it, you know, it made more sense, you know, how it was Stark's fault, but…I don't know why, now, I mean, it really doesn't make sense, does it?" he said, looking at Jason.

Jason shook his head. "It doesn't. None of it makes sense now. Daisha and I broke up because I was moving…"

Natasha hauled the last one up and sat him down, not bothering with tying his hands again. He frowned. Dallas shook his head. "Serena and I broke up because…because…I was seeing another girl on the side and she found out…" he said, looking across at Fury.

Carlos shook his head. "Maria and I broke up…because we just made better friends than lovers…" he said looking up. "Why the hell would I blame anyone for that?"

Fury looked across at Natasha. "Order blood work for them all. We may be dealing with something bigger than we thought."

"The man, the one who convinced you of this, who was he?" Fury asked as Natasha left to get the kit to draw blood.

"I…I don't know… He said his name was John Smith, and he wore a mask the whole time we were with him, and he wore gloves…" Jason said, the color draining from his face. "He…he told us that we had to make Stark pay, that it was the only way…and then we…we…oh my god, what the hell did we do?"

Carlos also had paled. "I thought he was going to kill him. He had a…billie club? Those things the cops in England carry. Is that what it was? He shoved it down his throat, and we laughed at him…why would we do such a thing? There was blood just pouring from his mouth, he…you could see it, he pushed it all the way down and he was choking and he'd yank it back out again…and the he used it…" Carlos blinked, and stopped. "Oh…why did we watch him? Why did we keep doing it again and again, it was like we couldn't stop, like we were…"

"Being controlled?" Fury asked with a sigh. Well, this just got more complicated than he'd like.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Clint found himself at the club that Tony and the others had been at quickly enough. After some nosing around, he found out that there were quite a few women that Tony had slept with around, and most of them told Clint that Tony had been what they needed at the time. A simple one night stand with no strings attached, and all of them were coming off relationships, both bad breaks and clean breaks. He could find no one that said that Tony made them cheat on their partners. He hit a few other bars he knew Tony frequented and found the same thing, and the occasional cheating woman that he'd turned down. So Tony had some morals after all, it seemed.

He found out a lot of what Tony did when he was out on the town. He flirted incessantly, but he found to his surprise he flirted with both men and women, though he didn't find any men he'd actually taken to bed. He ran across disgruntled ex-boyfriends that were mad that Tony had been with their exes, but none that claimed to blame Tony for the break up. He decided he wasn't going to find more information, so he scouted the area around the warehouse that they'd found him in.

He knew they were looking for something that had been used to damage his throat like that. He had never seen someone with that kind of damage that wasn't done purposefully. The idea that it was an act meant to cause Tony pain was one way to look at it, but another was that it was done purposefully to silence him for some reason. Battering the larynx like that would certainly do that job. Why? There were other ways to do it, he supposed, but then, if whoever was doing it was trying to disguise their true intention…

He stopped as the idea dawned on him. This hadn't been about the sexual assault. That had been a horrible cover for the true intention. With attention focused on the sexual assault, leaving the other three to be caught and punished and escaping, no one would question the fact that Tony was without his voice for a long time, if not permanently. Whoever had done this was beyond twisted.

He was about to go back when he spotted a trashcan dumped over recently. He leaped down and began to sift through the contents and found what he was looking for. A billie club, covered in still tacky blood…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Bruce sat beside Tony's bed and waited. He wasn't sure what he expected. Tony might not wake up at all. He'd seen the like before, traumatized victims refusing to come out of a coma. He didn't want that to happen. He looked up as the door opened and closed and saw it was Steve.

"How is he?" he asked, looking at where Tony was hooked up to the various lines running into him.

Bruce shook his head. "I can't say yet. No sign of waking yet. He's been taken off the anesthesia, so now we wait. The surgery on his throat caused a lot of swelling, and he'll have to stay on the ventilator for a while until we can be sure his breathing won't be affected. The larynx suffered the worst trauma, but the whole of his throat was battered pretty badly."

Steve nodded. "I don't understand why someone would do this," he said quietly as the door opened and Clint laid a white wrapped object on the counter.

"I found the weapon," he said quietly, and Bruce jumped up and snapped gloves on. "I have a theory too."

"Let's hear it," came Natasha's voice as she came into the room, her own face looking pale.

"I don't think the assault was the reason for the attack," he said, looking between them. I think it was a cover."

Steve looked at him. "How can raping someone be a cover?"

"Think about it. I did a lot of club diving and not once could I find a woman that claimed she had cheated on her partner with Tony, I even found a couple that had been angry that Tony wouldn't sleep with them because they were still married. The only thing that doesn't fit with the whole story, that this was some sort of revenge rape, is the damage to his throat. Think about it. He would have been injured enough as it was, and while yeah, sadistic bastards might want him to have the most pain, but what if that was the true crime," Clint said, looking at them all. "He was trying to stop him from being able to speak."

Natasha nodded. "That coincides with the three we have in custody. It was like they were coming down off some sort of mind control. At first they were angry and swearing and then they became horrified at what they'd done. They couldn't name the man they worked with."

"What use is stopping Tony's voice, though? It isn't like he can't communicate other ways. So if it was a matter of trying to stop him from talking about something…" Steve said with a deep frown.

Bruce looked up. "That means that…there is something about Tony's voice specifically that they were trying to destroy."

Steve frowned and looked at Natasha and Clint. "Let's go see if we can figure something out with the director," he said as they left together, leaving Bruce to stare at the club. His last hope was getting something off the handle, anything, DNA, a bit of a fingerprint, anything.

He felt Tony's hand twitch and he looked up to see his eyes opening slowly. They'd had to restrain him, of course. He had IV lines, a feeding tube line, and he was intubated. He couldn't pull any of it out without severely damaging something. He's eyes went wide and he yanked hard against the wrist binding.

"Tony, I need you to be calm for me," he said, leaning over him and locking eyes on him. Tony's eyes darted around and he obviously could tell he couldn't speak. "Okay, you were hurt, do you remember?" Part of Bruce wanted him to answer no. Instead he nodded, slowly. Bruce swallowed. "Okay now listen. You're intubated. I can't remove it yet, there's too much swelling in your throat. I may have to do a tracheotomy still if the swelling continues to increase, okay?"

Tony nodded, but his eyes were frantic still and Bruce could see by the heart monitor he was agitated, a lot. "Tony, calm down, okay, I don't want to have to sedate you, but I will if you can't calm down."

Tony was actively trying, Bruce could see that, but he couldn't imagine what was going on in the man's head. "Okay, I need you to listen to me; you're on a feeding tube right now, okay? Your system has to be monitored. That means you have to stay here, okay? And I have your arms restrained because if you pull out any of these tubes, it is going to be a big problem, okay?"

Again, the words set Tony's heart rate up a bit before it settled down again. Bruce knew that it was uncomfortable to have the tubes like that running down into his lungs. He moved and checked the two IV lines he had running, one for high dose antibiotics and the other for saline and morphine. He had him on a steady drip. He checked the tubes and couldn't help but notice the flinch when he got near Tony's mouth. He winced at the thought because it was completely unconscious. He had a feeling if he wasn't restrained that he would have ripped everything out by now already.

He sat down and put a hand on Tony's in the restraint. "Tony do you have any idea who the man was that had left?"

He felt his hand squeeze reflexively at the question and his heart rate shot up by twenty points. "Tony, I know, I need you to squeeze my hand, don't move your head right now. We had to do a lot of surgery to repair your larynx. Once for yes, twice for no, okay?" he said softly, rubbing a thumb over the back of Tony's hand gently as he spoke. Tony squeezed once.

"Alright, we're thinking that, as terrible as this is, what happened was a cover for something else, okay?" he said and Tony's hand squeezed again, his eyes focused on him. "Good, good, okay, the other men, the three we caught, they somehow have been brainwashed or manipulated, and left for us to catch. The other man, the one that escaped, we think was trying to destroy your ability to speak, Tony. That's the theory Clint came up with, so do you know why someone would want to do that and cover it up so no one would catch on?"

Tony's brow wrinkled and he squeezed twice. "It's a long shot, but we can't come up with anything else as to why the masked man would have arranged this. A diversion is the only thing that makes much sense." Tony squeezed again twice. "Okay, Tony, okay, you should rest. When you've healed a bit I'll get a tablet so you can talk to us through JARVIS," he said and Tony squeezed once.

Bruce got up to leave and Tony jerked on the wrist restraints, making them rattle. Bruce shook his head. "I can't take them off, Tony. If you pull something out, I can't be sure if you'll ever speak again, and I'm not going to lie to you, that's iffy as it is." Tony blinked and turned his head to the side and stared out the window. "I'm sorry, Tony. I wish I'd gotten there sooner."

Bruce stepped out of the room to see Pepper standing there. He nodded. "He's awake. Don't take the restraints off, though, he already asked, I just can't be sure yet that he won't pull everything out."

"Okay, I'll go sit with him for a while," she said softly, heading into the room with him.

Bruce headed down to the kitchen and flopped into one of the dining chairs with a deep sigh. He honestly didn't know what to do. He was startled out of thought as Steve sat down beside him.

"How is he?" Steve said as he grabbed a bagel off the plate. Pepper always brought bagels if she came by in the morning.

Bruce shook his head. "I don't know, I mean, its touch and go at this point. If his throat doesn't stop swelling, I'll have to trach him until it heals and I don't really want to do that. He's reacting poorly to being restrained, of course, and he's severely anxious."

Steve nodded. "We've still haven't gotten any leads on the masked man. Clint's still out there looking, and Natasha isn't even close to giving up the search yet. Fury's iffy on Clint's idea that this wasn't about revenge, but he's letting Clint go after it because we just don't know enough. No one can come up with the idea as to what Tony's actual voice could be so important for unless there is some sort of code somewhere that requires his voice activation. Did Tony know?"

Bruce shook his head. "I asked, but he responded no to it, that he didn't know why someone would want his voice removed. Even at that, wouldn't you think Tony of all people could come up with a voice modulator that could emulate his voice perfectly?"

"I don't know enough about this stuff, but if anyone could it would be Tony," he said with a sigh.

"Sirs, there is an incoming video transmission," came JARVIS over the speakers. "It is classified as priority one for Sir."

"Who is it, JARVIS?" Steve said, as the video monitor rose from the table and turned toward them.

"Under code Stark gamma six, when Sir is incapacitated, Captain Steve Rogers and Doctor Bruce Banner are allowed access to sub systems three through seven as well as all priority one messages," JARVIS said and the monitor flickered to life.

"Where's Tony?" came a voice that none of them knew. He was a bald older man talking to them from somewhere that had metal in the background.

"Tony's been injured, he's unable to answer," Bruce said, frowning as he stared at the man.

The man sighed. "I was afraid of this very situation, I warned Tony that he needed to come in immediately."

"Come in? Who are you?" Bruce asked.

"My name is Professor Xavier; I run a school for mutants and mutant training. I've been attempting to get Tony to come in since he was a child," he said, rubbing a hand over his head. "But why did I not see him when he was injured? I've been monitoring him for the last two months… What happened?"

"I don't understand what this has to do with Tony, was he helping you with something?" Steve asked, frowning.

Xavier shook his head. "I've been trying to get Tony to come in for assessment."

"Assessment? For what?" Bruce asked.

"To see exactly how far the mutant gene altered his physiology and what the potential for change it yet held," he answered matter of factly.

"Mutant gene?" Bruce said, frowning.

"Tony and his father both carried the mutant gene. They're mental capabilities stem from that gene, I'm sure you've noticed, Dr. Banner, brain scans on Tony are never quite normal. The reason is that he was born a mutant, though in such a way that others just assume he's a genius. No doubt he is, but the mutant gene compounds that genius and mental power exponentially with training. How was he hurt?" Xavier said.

Bruce was slightly taken aback. "Here, I'll transfer the files to you," he said, initiating the transfer before he thought more about it. He didn't even know this person and he was sending the reports over to him without a second thought.

Xavier looked away at something else and then turned behind him. "Jean, take a look," he said and a woman with red hair leaned just into the edge of the transmission.

"This is bad, Professor," she said quietly. "Really bad. This kind of emotional trauma could trigger the mutant gene's acceleration in him. We know when Tony is under severe distress, his capacity tends to magnify, explaining his sudden increase in ability when he was captured by the Ten Rings. This could trigger more capabilities than we've anticipated," she said, standing back up.

Xavier looked at Bruce and Steve. "Do you have the perpetrator in custody?"

Steve shook his head. "We detained three men who participated in the attack, but it seems that they were brainwashed or hypnotized or something and they can't explain why they did what they did. The masked man, as they called him, the one that convinced them to do this…they don't know who he is or where he came from."

Xavier nodded. "Very well. I'll do some research on my end, I'll contact you if I uncover anything that might be helpful. Whatever you do, try to keep him from becoming overly distressed. I've never been able to examine him personally, so I am honestly unsure of the extent of his potential."

The feed went black and Bruce and Steve exchanged looks. "Tony's a mutant," Bruce said, frowning. "I never…I'm running tests to find out if that's true, I'm not taking anything at face value," he said, getting up and going to the med bay where Tony was apparently asleep and Pepper sat beside him, her hand in his.

Pepper looked up as he came and took a blood sample, barely causing Tony to store. He smiled at her. "Some routine checks, don't worry, Pepper," he said as he took the sample to his larger lab and began a full spectrum analysis of his DNA sequences. It would take several hours to complete, even with the advanced device that Tony had invented for him.

If this was true, they had another clue. If it wasn't, they still had another clue, either way. They knew more now than they had before. It was a long wait and Bruce had fallen asleep on the table when the alarm sounded to let him know the analysis was complete. He went and pulled the paper off the printer and gaped. He went to the interface console and dialed into Director Fury's private line. His face filled the screen.

"Director, I think I've found something," he said softly, still staring at the paper.

Fury looked annoyed at the personal call. "What is it Bruce? Has something happened with Stark? I don't have time…"

"You need to make time. I got a call from a Professor Xavier. I decided to verify what he said and ran a full DNA analysis. Sir, Tony's carrying the mutant gene. And if I'm reading this right, it is actively altering more of his DNA as we speak," Bruce said, looking up at him.


End file.
